OPINION

I have no Gupta-skeletons in my cupboard

Phatse Justice Piitso |

21 July 2017

Justice Piitso responds to SACP GS Blade Nzimande's SMS allegations

A REVOLUTION IS A GENEROSITY OF LOVE AND NOT REVENGE

In the morning of this Wednesday, I was woken from my bedside by a tone of an SMS from the general secretary of the South African communist party, Dr Blade Nzimande. Going through it, I thought it was a belated message from the night before.

I thought even if it could have been as a result of a dose of a red wine in the morning, he could not have stooped so low. The erstwhile message from the leader of the South African Communist party reads as thus"

So Piitso history has come to expose you sooner than I have thought. You wrote me a nasty open letter as I was grieving the passing away of my mother. I had not even buried her. So much for being an African. You were doing all this because you are part of the Gupta parasitic and patronage networks. With that open letter you were singing for your supper. What a shame and I rest my case. cc Solly and Alex."

Even today I cannot comprehend if the panorama was a coincidence or a mere act of revenge from the leader of the most advanced revolutionary party of the working class Dr Blade Nzimande. His message comes just few days after I buried my own father at my home village of Ga Masemola in Sekhukhune, Limpopo province.

But being a revolutionary, I will not stoop low and use the death of my father as an excuse to think that he is also not an African enough as he alleges me to be. I will never use the death of my father as an excuse not to confront the complex political questions of our epoch.

But more importantly, I want to assure the leader of the South African Communist party that I never benefited from the Gupta family. It is his wishful thinking that my open later was an opportunity to sing for my own supper for the family.

My open letter is a profound theoretical intervention which seeks to define the development of monopoly imperialism and its specific characteristic features within the South African realities. It is therefore ridiculous for anyone including himself, from within the ranks of our movement, to suggest that this concept is not part of our vocabulary or is just an invention of the Gupta family.

These are some of the paragraph of the so called a nasty letter. I wish he comes back to challenge its theoretical basis and stop using it as a gossip and a tool of revenge.

" According to Lenin monopoly capital combines cartels, syndicates, and trusts which divide amongst themselves, first of all, the whole internal market of a country. But under capitalism the home market is bound up with the foreign market.

He profoundly states that the critical element of fueling imperialism, is the decline of national economic competition and growth of monopolies. Based on Marxist law of concentration, what emerged was an aggregation of market power into the hands of few cartels,syndicate trusts, and merging with them,the capital of a dozen or so banks manipulating thousands of millions.

Lenin profoundly so argues that monopoly is exactly the opposite of free competition. His thesis is that uneven economic and political development is the absolute law of capitalism.

To suggest that there is no white monopoly capital or even to cast aspersions on those seen to be overemphasizing the obvious fact, that white monopoly capital is the fundamental cause of the present socio economic structural problems in the current period of our struggles, is not just a blatant lie, but a complete distortion of Marxism Leninism.

By telling our people that there is no white monopoly capital is the same as telling them that there is no monopoly capital and therefore no imperialism. Monopoly is the highest stage of imperialism, which instead is the highest forms of capitalism.

What we need to do, is to apply and develop our revolutionary theory to our own specific conditions of the South African situation. My understanding is that the revolutionary concept of apartheid colonialism of a special type, elucidates both the form and appearance of imperialism in our own peculiar historical realities.

Apartheid colonialism of a special type is imperialism rooted in racial supremacy and exploitation. It is part of the manifestations of our class struggles which its essence is about a stage in the development of any society.

Historical and dialectical materialism teaches us that racism is a phenomenal feature of modern monopoly capitalism. One of its principal strategies is to organize society on the basis of racial supremacy to keep the momentum for economic exploitation.

I hope therefore that you agree with me that racism is about power, is about domination and superiority of one class over the other. In our situation, over the past three and half centuries, imperialism used racism as a tool to oppress and exploit the overwhelming majority of the people of our country.

Throughout this historic period, white monopoly imperialism transcended itself into a superstructure, which became a dominant force within the political, social and economic sphere of the South African society.

The apartheid white minority regime developed itself into a superstructure growing out of our economic base and therefore dominating our social relationships. Therefore the architecture of our superstructure confirms the historical realities of the existence of white monopoly capital.

In other words, in its production relations, the South African white monopoly capital has been amassing surplus value, within the legal frameworks of its relationship with international monopoly capital. Therefore the domination of the white minority over ownership of our economy and general domination of the value system of our society, is an expression of monopoly capital which is the highest form of imperialism.

We need to appreciate that the theory of our political economy provides a scientific analysis of the foundations of capitalism based on our historical experiences. It is a theoretical basis which gives a historical necessity of the development of imperialist monopoly within the context of the white minority colonialism of a special type.

The theory of our political economy demonstrates the genesis of power relations within the South African society. It is the dichotomy of dialectical relationships between the productive forces and their relationship to our society.

The basis of the relationship between productive forces and relations in society during this period of apartheid neo colonialism of a special type is that white minority is still the dominant power house of the ownership of the commanding heights of our economy and influence in society.

Therefore the history of the development of productive forces and their relationships is the history of the development of human society. It is a history that informs the overall objectives of our struggles for the second phase of our struggle for radical socio economic transformation of our society".

What I am sure is that my open letter will serve as a reservoir of knowledge and political education to many of the generations of man to come. It is a fountain which does not only elucidate the core of historical and dialectical materialism, but importantly, to teach many generations of man about the most important question of abstract profit, the question of surplus value.

I am ready to be subjected to any form of public scrutiny. I am ready to be subjected to any form of political and life style audit.

Against his wishful thinking as he suggests in his offensive SMS to me, I do not have any skeletons in my cupboard. I can account to every historical moment of my involvement as an honest member of our liberation movement and even to account to any puppy, a cat, a goat or a shoe which is in my domain.

For many years my wife has worked with Cde Jacob Zuma both in his capacity as the Deputy President of the ANC and the country and later as well as the President of the ANC and the country. In her capacity as his private secretary, she has been in contact with many individuals and institutions including himself.

I am sure that she worked closely with him as the leader of the party and the ANC and also as a Minister of higher education. The Gupta family cannot be an exception.

The reason why I am convinced that if it was not the dose of the red wine in the morning of this Wednesday, if I were him, I would have hesitated to insinuate the hogwash in his SMS.

The holier than thou attitude is in itself the best form of counter revolution. Time and space will tell if he has never in any form benefitted from the Gupta family.

I am sure that I would have not hesitated to confirm if I have ever benefitted from the family. It would have not been in my best interest not to declare the day in which I would have sung for my supper.

My wish is that those who are in possession of the so called Gupta leaks must stop using the information at their disposal selectively. Those of us who love the country and its future, should seek to see to it that those who are using the information selectively to divide our nation face the might of the law.

I am firmly convinced that the forces of reaction are using this information selectively to influence the outcomes of the ANC national conference to take place at the end of this year. All what they need to do is to be responsible enough and release all the information about everyone who over the years had contacts with the family.

The hogwash SMS form the general secretary of the communist party reminds me of one of the most painful episodes in my political life.

It reminds me of a decision that was taken to disband the provincial executive committee of the SACP in Limpopo.

The two main crimes on the charge sheet were first that the SACP in Limpopo was not supporting Comrade Jacob Zuma to be the ANC President and secondly that the province invited former President Thabo Mbeki to address the Lawrence Phokanoka annual political school held in Seshego township.

The most beautiful remaining memories about the prestigious political school named after one of our most outstanding revolutionary leader ever produced by our movement, is that during that rare day, former President Mbeki, focused his political input on the core question which is at the heart of our class struggles, the question of surplus value.

The communist party is the most advanced detachment led by the most advanced elements in society. Its theory prepares all of us to understand the fundamental question of cause and effect.

The role of a leader is to embrace and unite the people. A leader cannot celebrate the pain of others.

Lies often told becomes the truth. I know that if I do not clear this cloud from my face, it will go with me to my grave.

In the year 2008, I was falsely accused of having called the general secretary of the party a product of Inkatha Freedom party. Charges which even today I cannot follow were concocted against me.

One of the members of the SACP at the time Philip Mhlongo has been making repeated calls inviting Comrade Blade Nzimande to a public debate about what he called the truth about their childhood political activism.

Throughout the interviews that Mr Mhlongo had with various media houses throughout the country, he made strong allegations that Cde Blade grew within the ranks of Inkatha Freedom party. He was inviting him to a public debate to proof his allegations.

What is important is that I never imagined that this would later turn me into a scapegoat of the circumstances. I was later accused of calling him a former member of the IFP.

When Philip Mhlongo made repeated calls inviting him for a public debate about his political background, making claims that he was once a member of Inkatha a Freedom party. I never thought that those revelations about his own political background in the dusty streets of Dambuza township would later come to haunt me.

Today I want to repeat the obvious, that I never said he was a member of Inkatha Freedom party. What I said as I repeat myself was that the communist party cannot be led by a product of Inkatha, and if indeed the allegations that he grew within the ranks of the party of Mangozuthu Buthelezi are true, then indeed the whole thing need to be investigated.

Even today Mr Philip Mhlongo was never afforded the opportunity of the public debate. But what I am sure of is that abusing the authority over the party will never erase this important political allegations from our memories.

In the movement we all know who we are, with whom have we joined the movement, under which circumstances and the important tasks that were at hand. We like telling our stories of how we were involved and the best is to clear the air.

I am making tales of these agonies because of the heavy SMS I received from the leader of my vanguard party. It is a voluminous message and defines the toxic environment of a dog its dog our movement finds itself today.

The most dangerous enemy of our national democratic revolution is the enemy from within our own ranks. The enemy which thrives with the pain of others.

Our task is to ensure that we unite the revolutionary movement and the people of our country. Our task is to make sure that the ANC remains a leader of society and therefore our national democratic revolution.

The struggle for total liberation of the overwhelming majority of the people of our country has just began. No amount of siren songs of the enemy will thwart our forward movement for radical transformation of our society.

Phatse Justice Piitso is the former Ambassador to the republic of Cuba and the former provincial secretary of the SACP writing this article on his personal capacity.